Ribbon Placement:

Office of Readings for Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

God, come to my assistance.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

HYMN

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me by the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of my Lord for ever.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 I am worn out with crying, with longing for my God.

Psalm 69:2-22,30-37

I

Save me, O God,

I have sunk into the mud of the deep

I am wearied with all my crying,

More numerous than the hairs on my head

How can I restore

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame

It is for you that I suffer taunts,

When I afflict my soul with fasting

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Ant. I am worn out with crying, with longing for my God.

Ant. 2 I needed food and they gave me gall; I was parched with thirst and they gave me vinegar.

II

This is my prayer to you,

Save me from the waters of the deep

Lord, answer, for your love is kind;

You know how they taunt and deride me;

For food they gave me poison;

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Ant. I needed food and they gave me gall; I was parched with thirst and they gave me vinegar.

Ant. 3 Seek the Lord and you will live.

III

As for me in my poverty and pain,

I will praise God’s name with a song;

The poor when they see it will be glad

For God will bring help to Zion

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Psalm-prayer

God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.

Ant. Seek the Lord and you will live.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

Turn back to the Lord your God.

READINGS

First reading

Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and has filled him with a divine spirit of skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft: in the production of embroidery, in making things of gold, silver or bronze, in cutting and mounting precious stones, in carving wood, and in every other craft. He has also given both him and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has endowed them with skill to execute all types of work: engraving, embroidering, the making of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread, weaving, and all other arts and crafts.

“Bezalel, therefore, will set to work with Oholiab and with all the experts whom the Lord has endowed with skill and understanding in knowing how to execute all the work for the service of the sanctuary, just as the Lord has commanded.”

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. The inside and outside were plated with gold, and a molding of gold was put around it. Four gold rings were cast and put on its four supports, two rings for one side and two for the opposite side. Poles of acacia wood were made and plated with gold; these were put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it.

The propitiatory was made of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. Two cherubim of beaten gold were made for the two ends of the propitiatory, one cherub fastened at one end, the other at the other end, springing directly from the propitiatory at its two ends. The cherubim had their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them. They were turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.

RESPONSORY Psalm 84:2, 3; 46: 5, 6

How dear to me your dwelling place, Lord God of hosts. My soul is yearning for the courts of the Lord.

How holy is the sanctuary of the Most High! God fills it with his presence and his eternal strength.

Second reading

Holy Job is a type of the Church. At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head. As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head. So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.

Christ suffered without sin on his hands, for he committed no sin and deceit was not found on his lips. Yet he suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption. His prayer to God was pure, his alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of his suffering he prayed for his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them? It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of our Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed him to be the Son of God.

The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return. Earth does not cover over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him.

Earth has not hidden away his blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.

Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. The blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer. Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s. Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. The blood of Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel asked for the death of Cain, the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.

If the sacrament of the Lord’s passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

RESPONSORY See Genesis 4:10,11; Hebrews 12:24

O Lord, the blood of your Son, our brother,

The blood he shed is more eloquent than the blood of Abel.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Pour your grace into our hearts,

ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)

Let us praise the Lord.